3D printing is an additive manufacturing process for making three-dimensional objects of arbitrary shapes from digital models. Other terms used synonymously to refer to 3D printing include additive manufacturing, layer manufacturing, rapid prototyping, layer-wise fabrication, solid freeform fabrication, and direct digital manufacturing. One such technology is material extrusion 3D printing, which is also known as fused filament fabrication or FDM™ (Fused Deposition Modeling). FDM™ is a trademark used by Stratasys, Inc. A similar or equivalent technology is FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication), which is also sometimes referred to as PJP (Plastic Jet Printing).
This technology works by driving a filament into a heated block wherein the solid filament is softened to promote material flow. The flowable material can then be further driven through a small diameter nozzle and accurately deposited on a substrate material or previously deposited material. The deposited material is referred to as a raster. Note that large extruders are also currently being implemented in combination with robotic systems.
Currently, these technologies do not include closed-loop control and have limited monitoring tools. The implementation of the disclosed diagnostic and control method can enable the material extrusion 3D printing process to detect manufacturing flaws and correct them during fabrication.